So E3 is taking place this week and earlier today I watched Microsoft's press conference. At the end they were demoing a new piece of hardware codenamed Project Natal. Its a neat bit of hardware but they used it to demo a program called Milo that frankly I found a little unnerving.

Basically Milo is, for all appearances, a thinking, responsive, intelligent human being. Even though its a simulation. It can recognize how you're feeling from your voice patterns, actively engage you in its world and even take virtual representations of things from your world. This was demonstrated by a woman who drew a picture and handed it up to the camera, which was then retrieved by Milo.

My worry is this. Most people these days have unrealistic expectations when it comes to our interactions with other people. They want no drama, no conflict.. basically nothing to even rock the boat. All fun, all the time. In real life it just doesn't work that way, but with a programmed friend, it could. So what's to stop millions of people from simply ceasing going out altogether, getting attached to a virtual friend and holing up in their living room? Especially with rumors of machines being able to simulate tactile response and trigger orgasms circulating for years now.

Technology seems to be rapidly approaching a point where it can imitate a better version of real life, and I'm worried that most people would choose the illusion over their actual lives. What are your thoughts on the subject?

Your fears are already out there, think World of Warcraft.

would you like to play a game?

A very good point. I knew people that couldn't be pulled away to answer the door, or even go to the bathroom. But WoW appeals to a specific audience, even if it is a large one. Interacting with something that behaves the same as an actual human being is something everyone can relate to.

Maybe you could program the virtual human to play WoW with you!

As generations pass the mind gets more complex wanting more and more for some reason. On top of this people seek perfection all the time and give the least amount of effort in doing something all together when it comes to earning money or buying the groceries for example.

It reminds me of the pixar cartoon WALL-E on how humans are so fat that they actually don't do anything but talk while floating on chairs surrounded by a flat screen tv and hundreds of buttons that do various tasks such as handing you a milkshake or a cheeseburger when you want it, or have your tooth pulled out by a robot dentist.

It comes to no surprise that in the future that humans will be half robotic themselves and robots with human emotions and virtual intelligence will occur. Hundreds of science fiction movies have been made showing the desire for robotic interaction to creating them to do our labor. Most humans find it cool and hope for such changes to happen.

If you think about it now it is already happening in many ways. You the reader sit behind the computer communicating with friends hundreds of miles away and maybe even having a romantic chat with the most beautiful lady from the carribean islands. There you have both friendships and romantic imaginative notions from a live person. Or are they really live and not preprogrammed?

Yet wait! Just maybe one day future dating sites will have millions of virtual intelligent programs imitating a woman or man that looks like Cindy Crawford or Sean Connery. I know horrible examples, yet I can imagine that a programmer from India or China is already working on such a dating site that will have the feel of a dating site with real live people although they aren't live at all.

The world of making life easier with the latest technologies maybe the reason why mankind will come to an end. How we can weigh it is up to you. Perhaps some technological advances maybe be a life saver and others pure destruction. I would say I would rather have a virtual woman talking to me then the next invention of how to blow up a complete continent as opposed to a city.

Now let me go push the button "M" on my laptop as a frappucino floats from the kitchen towards the hallway and into my hands in my office shall we

I find this question kind of interesting because I do tend toward hermit behavior. It's not that I'm agoraphobic or anything like that. I do go out once in a great while to socilize. But for most of my time I choose to be alone.

I don't get into computer generated playmates. But I do practice shamanic journeying (purposeful dreaming). I would rather spend time dreaming then going out and interacting with real people. In short I guess I'd rather keep my own company than to be in the company of others.

The question then becomes; "Am I choosing illusion or 'dream' over 'actual life'?

Well, my answer to that question is a very simple, "No."

The ability to dream is a part of 'actual life'.

I also spend time talking to my cat, or watching birds come to my bird feeders. I enjoy the company of birds and cats more than people. Or even just talking to myself. I have actually had conversations with myself where I've come to very profound new conclusions that I hadn't considered before. I can take both sides of any argument, and I often do. This allows me to argue with myself as well.

But here's a question for you:

Why would life be any less real or 'actual' for an introvert than it would be for an extrovert?

Also, if you found yourseld stranded on an island would life then become a meaningless illusion to you?

I think if I found myself stranded on a deserted island I'd scream "Eureaka!".

Especially if there were birds and other animals to talk to.

Who needs humans?

Looking up a word hyperreal is an interesting thing for me. Op, try looking up that word. It may be what you are looking for.

I took a while to reply to this because I wanted to be sure of my position. Fact is, I don't feel like its the same thing. However much you may like your shamanic dreaming you gave no indication that it interferes with your everyday life. I guess the issue I'm really concerned about is addiction. A large number of people can get addicted to things whether they have addictive qualities or not. Video games, for whatever reason, are one of these things. But with games being designed specifically to blur the line of reality and present the average person with a customized version of their life, I think a large number of people would choose the fantasy to occupy all their free time, and maybe more.

I thought about your island question and while I don't know if I would view life as an illusion or not, fact is I already view it as meaningless. And I don't find that depressing. Why does there have to be a reason why I'm here? There are 6 billion of us on this planet.. we live, we die. I don't believe there is any significance to our being here, but I still live my life to the fullest. There is no guarantee of what will come with the future, in life or in death, but I do the best I can to live in a manner I can be proud of.

Thanks to Thoughtful hug for bringing the word "hyperreal", that is exactly what I'm talking about.

Robot Zombie Army Chicks

If a computer is predictable and treats you the way you want to be treated, the standard person will grow bored with this . . . (it may take some time [took me 4 years to get bored of WoW])

People are unpredictable (at times) this can be exciting.

Now I am of the personal opinion that we are nothing but highly advanced biological machines. So if we took a robot and it really did have every quality of a human . . . it would be human.

Smart men are sooo hot!!

This thread is a replay of the movie "Cherry 2000"

Yes, this is so true.



Some people are, and some people aren't.

Moreover, machines can be unpredicable at times too.

I'm personally not thrilled by unpredicability. Excitment simply isn't high on my list of priorities of what makes worth living. I enjoy simple predictable things without becoming bored with them.

In fact, many things the people find boring, I find to be quite interestingly diverse in subtle ways. As an example, I can play the same piece of music on an instrument over and over and over again without becoming bored. Many people would find this totally boring. However, for me, it NEVER sounds the same twice. Perhaps I'm just more in tune to the finer details?

I think this is why I don't get bored easily. I can do the same things over and over again, and each time it's a totally different experience.

Although I do prefer real events over computer games. Computer games are lame.

Your sooooo correct. I was being very general and over simplified in my response as usual you have expounded the idea in a very well written way.

Frankly, I don't understand what makes you worried:

that people without any friends will have at least an artificial companion?
. . . . . . . . OR
that you won't have anybody to make fun of -- because they (whom nobody wants to deal with) will retreat into their illusionary lives and desert you to deal with this harsh reality?

After all, technological advances, usually, appear in response to our needs...

So, DON'T WORRY -- BE HAPPY! ! !

As technology evolves, so does the human brain. There will never be a replacement. We don't need to worry about a synthetic human in our lifetimes, nor will the future people neeed to worry about a machine that can replace the future brain.

We love in a holographic reality

Says you, I see people getting dumber every day.

And Lawrence Fishburne taught me that our existence and everything that we experience are nothing but electrical impulses telling our brain what is going on. Are you or I really at a keyboard right now typing? Is that air you're breathing? Perhaps we're all in little pods right now creating energy for the machines.

I for one welcome our robotic overlords.

I took the blue pill weeeeeeee!

You could get more energy from burning the food humans eat directly then from what a human could generate as useful energy after eating the food.